According to the latest Taiwan’s energy plan, nuclear power that provides approximately 16% of total electricity will be replaced by renewable energy sources by 2025. Wind power is of particular interest because Taiwan’s maritime climate and constant monsoons make it a feasible alternative that potentially generate a considerable amount of electricity. To better understand how wind power can provide stable electricity output and sequester CO2 emissions, this study employs the Weibull distribution with a threshold regression model to estimate the electricity potential for 370 scheduled wind farm sites and refine electricity estimation according to observed data from all existing wind farms. The results show that, compared to the theoretical estimation models, our proposed refinement method can, in average, reduce estimating error by 87%. The results indicate that construction of all scheduled sites are not a cost-effective approach, and the government may focus on construction of stations that can generate electricity of more than 12 million kWh per year, if capital rationing do exist. Our insightful results thus convey constructive suggestions regarding sites selection, stability of wind speed, and electricity potential of each site, all of which can be helpful in decision making. It is also noteworthy to point out that unless future climate is far deviated from the observed data, wind power can be an effective substitute of nuclear power.

Due to environmental concern, Taiwan aims to remove nuclear power from its energy structure. Since an increase in fossil fuel-based generation is foreboded by law, the lost nuclear power can only be replaced by renewable energy sources. The maritime climate and constant monsoons make wind power a feasible alternative energy source to Taiwan. With more than 300 potential wind farm sites under consideration, the government does not have enough information to determine the best sites in terms of power generation and capital investments. To explore such information, this study employs a lifecycle analysis to identify the economic components of these sites under the estimates of wind speed data and potential wind power generation obtained in our previous study. We also use a sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of construction cost, maintenance cost, energy sale, and emission trade on the site selection decision. We show that variations in construction costs and energy prices have larger impacts than greenhouse gases prices. In addition, the results point out that most sites pass the cost-benefit examination, but site rankings may alter in the face of capital rationing and climate change. Some policy implications derived from the results are discussed in detail.

The use of fossil fuel causes severe environmental problem such as climate change in the global scale and acid rain in the regional level. Along with its nonrenewable property, renewable and clean energy sources must be explored so as to keep the economy growing sustainably. Nowadays many renewable energy alternatives such as bioenergy, solar power, hydro power, and wind power have been employed, and each of them has their own pros and cons. This special issue focuses on the use of urban and rural wastes in several aspects such as (i) the use agricultural residuals in bioenergy production; (ii) treatments of municipal solid waste in pyrolysis and biochar application; (iii) sewer sludge and other organic matters in renewable energy production; and (iv) plastic materials in wind farm construction and production of solar panels, to assist the production of renewable energy to improve the resource management and maintain the environment.

Taiwan imports more than 99% of her energy and suffers from the climate change such as rising ocean level. Therefore, energy insecurity and GHG emissions offset are two serious problems facing Taiwan. This paper examines the possibilities for domestic bioenergy production in Taiwan utilizing set-aside land and analyzes the comparative economics and choice among these alternatives under current Taiwanese agricultural system policies and also under altered energy and greenhouse gas/carbon prices. Biochar, produced from pyrolysis, is also investigated by different uses: whether it is best used as an energy source and/or a soil amendment. Agricultural residuals and animal wastes possible alternatives for pyrolysis systems and therefore, land competition for agricultural feedstocks and supply of agricultural and animal wastes will be incorporated into the study. The study employs modified Taiwanese Agricultural Sector Model (TASM) to simulate the effects of the alternatives in the face of energy and greenhouse gases prices.